Raiders QB Jimmy Garoppolo 'dodged a big bullet' with back injury, status unclear for Week 7

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo appears to have avoided a major back injury.

Head coach Josh McDaniels said Monday that Garoppolo “dodged a big bullet” regarding internal injuries.

“There was some concern yesterday that it was an internal issue,” McDaniels told reporters. “So we did a bunch of scans yesterday, last night. Seems like we dodged a big bullet in that regard. That’s good news. We’re still doing a couple things this morning and we’ll kind of make sure we do all the right things here as we go forward. The prognosis is a lot better than it might have otherwise been. Don’t yet for this week, relatively speaking. So there’s a lot still to, I’d say, uncover in that regard, but good news relative to what it might have been.”

Jimmy G is still undergoing tests, and his status for Week 7’s game in Chicago is up in the air, but it appears the injury won’t keep the QB out long-term.

Garoppolo suffered a back injury during the second quarter of Sunday’s victory over New England. He exited to the locker room before halftime and was initially designated as doubtful. However, his status was quickly changed to out, and he was then transported to a local hospital out of precaution.

Veteran QB Brian Hoyer entered the contest and helped secure the Raiders’ third victory of the season. When Garoppolo missed Week 4 due to a concussion, rookie Aidan O'Connell got the start in a 24-17 loss to Los Angeles.

Garoppolo hasn’t played a full slate of games since 2019 with the San Francisco 49ers.